


Lance's Babysitting Job From Hell

by SherbetLemon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Swap, Baby Hunk (Voltron), Baby Keith (Voltron), Babysitter Lance (Voltron), Babysitting, Canon Compliant, Cute, Family, Fluff, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Hugs, Kid Fic, Lance (Voltron)-centric, One Shot, Platonic Relationships, Platonic voltron, age change, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 21:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16048832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherbetLemon/pseuds/SherbetLemon
Summary: When the paladins are hurtled back into the wrong ages, Lance is left babysitting his team!A baby, toddler, kid and teen are not ideal companions when trying to fix a decaying temple but Lance powers through. Although it's difficult when his team is made up of extremely adorable pains in the neck!Inspired by that episode where Coran and Allura are stuck in a wormhole time-loop thing.





	Lance's Babysitting Job From Hell

‘Oh my god the whole place is going to fall in on us!’

Hunk grabbed onto Lance’s arm like a life belt as the cave walls wavered around them like fabric despite being made up of thick stone.

‘It’s not gonna fall in.’ Keith hissed. He was in the front, torch pointing around the tunnel and flickering over every growing crack. Lance gulped, leaning back into Hunk.

‘Are we really sure we should be doing this?’

By all logic they shouldn’t be. The temple they were walking through had been built many millennia ago by a land-faring species named the Yoroxia. Coran said the Yoroxian’s dedicated their lives to protecting planets with wormhole cores from rips in time by creating labyrinthine temples. They reached deep underground and were filled to the brim with technology to stabilise the rifts. But the Yoroxians died out a long time ago, leaving this building in dire need of maintenance and without a caretaker.

So, bring on Voltron! Come, paladins, gander through this crumbling building whilst earthquakes rip through the planet. Don’t forget the power surges where energy spurts out the core and hurtles passers-by into different ages! Fun for all the family!

‘Lance, you know we have to.’ Allura sighed from behind him, ‘the Ragola can’t survive on land and their people are suffering.’

Allura was right. The Ragola were a fish-like species, appearance a cross between a seahorse and a butterfly. They were covered in scales the colour of kingfisher’s feathers and swam through the green ocean like how birds swooped through the sky. They were beautiful like mermaids, but that brought them the same fate. The Ragola were doomed to roam the world below the sea. Meaning they had no idea of the temple above or the disaster within.

They’d sent out a distress signal months ago when their entire society began to fall apart. There were three-year-old doctors, thirty-year-old babies and a six-year-old queen. It was a dystopian dreamland with no apparent cause or solution. When Voltron answered the Ragola’s call, they were their only hope. Luckily, being able to step upon land and see the massive caving in rooftop of a Yoroxian Temple gave them a clue as to how to help them.

The paladins stumbled out of another passage and into a glowing room. The floor was carved with a swirling mosaic that flowed with green light. A giant pillar stood at the centre, wires falling out and poles sticking in an out like a game of kerplunk. A green force field covered in tiny dots surrounded it.

‘Don’t touch that.’ Pidge warned, scanning the device. ‘Packs more than just a shock.’

‘Is the thing we need to fix in here or...?’ Hunk’s eyes flickered across the room, grip on Lance tightening.

‘No,’ Pidge said tiredly, ‘I think we need to go in deeper.’

Great. They were going to die here.

Lance made to take a reluctant step forward when the ground suddenly took a nose dive below his feet. He stumbled as the whole building began to vibrate. Dust fell from the ceiling as deafening roars echoed from the shaking walls. A burst of white light tore through the building, sending a rush of power through his veins like a gust of gale force wind. Lance was thrown off his feet, falling heavily to the floor as his teammates shouts lost out to a ringing in his ears.  
  
When the movements finally stopped, Lance let out a groan. With heaving effort, he forced himself up on his hands to check the damage. The dust was still settling, but he could just make out the vague shape of the room. It was relatively intact, and his hearing slowly adjusted back to the low hum of the temple. So, nothing was too broken then. He twisted around and winced as the freshly formed bruise on his back made itself known. Reaching a hand around to rub it he tried to move properly around when a weight on his leg prevented it. Rubble? He looked at the ceiling but it was in relatively good nick. Yeah there were plants poking through it and the odd graze but not whole pieces of rock missing.

Then there was a noise. A whimper. Oh no.

He looked down and there, resting on his leg, was a far too small version of his best friend.

Crap. They’d been time shifted.

‘Hey buddy,’ Lance started in what he hoped was a soothing tone, ‘are you alright?’

The boy stared at him, lip wobbling. His skin was covered in dust and his eyes were glistening. Oh no. No no no no.

Hunk wailed. Tears poured from his eyes and his mouth fell open to release desperate screeches like a dying banshee. Lance winced, cursing his friend for being a crier all his life. He plucked Hunk from his leg and hugged the small body close to his chest. Squishy arms immediately latched onto him and the boy buried himself in Lance, soaking his shirt with snot and tears.

‘Shush,’ Lance whispered into his hair, the sweet fragrance of violets wafting up his nose, ‘you’re okay, you’re with us, right?’

Wait, where were the others?

‘Ugh can you please turn that thing off?’

Lance froze. Turning around felt like checking for a murderer behind the shower curtain. He squeezed Hunk a little tighter and turned around with baited breath. To his dismay, he found Allura leaning against the wall, shorter than usual and face out of proportion. Her mouth was curled with disgust as she twirled a lock of short hair around her finger. Please no.

‘Uh, hey Allura,’ he said awkwardly. Hunk’s wails tampered down to broken hiccups seemingly enamoured with the girl and Lance clambered to his feet to address her properly, ‘tell me, how old are you?’

‘I’m thirteen.’

Quiznak. One moody teenager at his service.

‘I’m four!’

Lance blinked. That chirpy little voice came out of nowhere. Something tugged at his jeans and he looked down. A small child with a mess of black hair and startling large eyes was tugging at his trouser leg, holding out his free hand like a star.

‘I’m four.’ He repeated with urgency, staring with a determined frown. Lance couldn’t stop the smile that burst across his features. Baby Keith had to be the cutest thing he’d ever seen!

Lance bent down to his height. ‘You are?’

‘Yep!’ Keith preened, putting his tiny fists on his hips to stand proudly. Lance could die.

‘Hey, what’s this?’

Pidge, where was Pidge? Lance whipped around frantically. The already tiny paladin he found was even shorter now, hair longer and roughly pulled back. She was probably around ten and nearly no more because she was crouching right in front of the force field, finger stretching forward.

‘PIDGE DON’T TOUCH THAT!’

Lance sprinted across the room, skidding to her side just in time to slap her hand away from impending electric shock. The girl blinked owlishly at him, ‘what?’

‘WHAT!?’ Lance burst out, ‘YOU CAN’T JUST GO AROUND TOUCHING RANDOM THINGS?’

Oh, shouting was a mistake. Hunk was wailing again, face screwed up in tiny ball.

‘Buddy no,’ Lance whined, letting his head roll around in defeat before jostling the baby once again, ‘I’m sorry okay? PIDGE I SAID NO!’

Pidge had her hand out again and was looking sheepish. She pouted, avoiding his gaze, ‘well my big brother says you gotta test things out to learn.’

‘Well your big brother’s not here now so step off!’

Pidge’s pout deepened but she did as she was told, crossing her arms with a huff. Thank goodness. Lance was beginning to realise he had the babysitting job from hell.

Taking a deep breath, he gazed around at his ragtag group. Placing Hunk down beside them he corralled them into an audience, which mostly consisted of the youngsters moving and Allura being of no help at all.

‘Okay kids, we’ve got to get through this temple and fix up the mainframe without any trouble. Are you with me?’

‘Yeah!

Well that was Keith one hundred percent on board despite clearly having no idea what was going on. The boy was all energy and no fear and it was extremely sweet. Lance inwardly cooed.

Hunk’s glassy eyes gazed at his friends faces. He stuck his fist in his mouth and began chewing but that wasn’t a no.

Lance looked to Pidge who nodded excitedly, ‘yeah let’s do this!’

She began jumping between her feet, fists squeezed into punches. Another eager helper.

And then there was Allura, arms crossed and still leaning on the wall.

‘Allura?’ He prompted and she let out a growl. He tried not to visibly recoil, keeping a stern glare on her.

‘Fine.’ She finally huffed out, ‘I’ll help with your stupid mission IF you keep that baby away from me.’

‘Will do!’

So that was a full house! Lance grinned, spinning around to grab Keith’s abandoned torch and started a game of follow the leader.

‘Stay with me kids! We’re looking for a room with a large, octagonal table, glowing green lights and some sort of pipe system.’

  
  
After marching through more passages, they entered a large cavern with tree roots poking through the ceiling and strange panels stuck on the walls. Not where they needed to be but there didn’t appear to be any other exits bar the one they entered through.

Lance turned to his team, ‘right. First to find an exit wins.’

Pidge was instantly on the run, grin spread across her face as her gangly limbs swung around to get her to the far side as quickly as physically possible. Keith stumbled after, desperate to keep up as his tiny hands hit the ground every five seconds. Lance couldn’t help but laugh at the determination. He turned to survey the rest of the room and was sad to find the remainder of his team. Hunk had made himself at home sat on the floor. Well, he could be forgiven, a baby probably couldn’t do much finding anyway. Allura however, had no excuse.

‘Why are you just standing there?’

Allura looked at her nails, ‘just let the kids find it.’

‘What no, we should all be helping out.’

Allura let out a huge whine, ‘there’s no point, they’ll find it before us.’

Lance rolled his eyes. Was he this annoying when he was thirteen? He suddenly understood why his sister hated him so much and vowed to apologise to his mother. ‘Just go that way and I’ll check the back.’

Lance didn’t wait for an answer, jogging ahead already. Allura was just testing boundaries, she’d do as she was told eventually.

Stroking his hand along the wall as he went, he felt for any hidden doors in the metal. The panels were all hard, unmoving and tightly aligned. No luck there. Switching tactic, he crouched down to look at the bottom but they were all welded to the floor, no chance of moving them.

‘I’ve got nothing!’ He yelled, before running back to the group.

‘Me neither.’ Allura sighed, sinking back against the wall. Hunk was now poking at the dust drawing pictures so clearly his search was a bust too. They must have been in the wrong place. Not wanting to waste any more time, Lance made his way around to the other side of the room to fetch the last two members of their party.

Not too far around he found Keith. He was crouched to the ground, hands covering something on the stone floor. Lance approached with caution.

‘What you got there, little guy?’

Keith kept his eyes glued to his clasped hands as he lifted them up, stretched his little legs and toddled around right up to Lance. Then he shoved his hands right up into the other’s face with insistence.

‘Yeah?’ Lance laughed, ‘something for me?’

Keith nodded violently. A gift? Lance grinned. ‘Let’s see then.’

Keith released his hands and Lance immediately let out a scream. Something rushed at him, attacking his face with a buzz. He scrambled back, whacking at the air in front of him. ‘What the hell was that!?’

The tiny boy didn’t answer. Instead, he burst out laughing, pointing a pudgy finger at Lance. What a little horror! Lance spun his head around until his eyes finally focused on a black and blue beetle landing on the floor next to him. Guess Keith was a bug catcher.

‘Do not do that again.’ He warned, and the laughter tapered off as it took in angry face. Then it burst out again even harder this time. Lance rolled his eyes. He didn’t have time for this.

‘Pidge?’ He shouted from the floor, deciding Keith couldn’t be left on his own when an insect was still around and - oh great now he was walking towards it again. Not good. Lance hooked an arm around the boy before he could get it and that bubbly laughter began again. Lance fought the urge to smile. He had to be firm and not give in, no matter how cute the kids were. Especially when they were soft and squidgy in his arms and too tiny to contain the joy they felt.

‘Pidge!’ He yelled again, ‘you found anything?’

The girl came barrelling around the corner, grin spread wide across her pink face, ‘I found a trap door!’

That was promising, Lance scrambled to his feet.

‘Allura,’ he yelled over his shoulder, ‘grab Hunk, we’ve got a lead!’

‘Not a quiznakking chance in hell.’

‘Allura!’ Lance screeched covering Keith’s tiny ears and whipping around, ‘watch your language!’

Pidge giggled behind him but Allura just rolled her eyes. Keith on the other hand, was dribbling with laughter. He pulled Lance’s hands away, cheeky smile aimed at him.

‘Chance.’

What?

Keith hid his face, laughing again. Hold on, did Keith think the bad word was “chance”? Oh my god that was so adorable. Without even thinking, Lance squeezed the boy under his arms, tickling under his ribs, ‘you are a little terror.’

But so damn cute.

Keith wriggled under the grip, cheeks pink and eyes twinkling. Lance decided not to correct him as he finally broke free and the word became his new catchphrase as he galloped after Pidge.

The magic was quickly lost as Allura sauntered past, empty handed. Lance sighed before going back to scoop Hunk from the floor. The kid could walk on his own but that would take hours they just didn’t have. Besides he was warm and wanted nothing more than Lance hugs which he was more than happy to provide.  


  
So, Pidge had taken it upon herself to teach Keith the word “quiznak”. Lovely. The boy had a new catchphrase. Lance cringed every time the word spilt from his young lips. Yes, he knew that Keith wasn’t actually five but years of getting berated by his brother for swearing in front of his niece and nephew meant he feared the kid’s language.

Lance opened up the trapdoor and found a tilted floor poking out from below it. It was made up of panels fixed together and rusting at the edges. Hunk gripped his collar as he leaned away to look further into the tunnel, curious mouth slowly falling open.

‘Is that a slide!?’ Pidge was over his shoulder in second, hand slammed down onto it as she eagerly peered down the tunnel, sending him off balance.

‘It is!’ She yelped and then she was jumping. The hand on him pushed down violently and the force had Lance careening over the edge. With only instincts to save him, Hunk was lifted out of harm’s way just before Lance’s chest crashed into the metal and he sailed down the slide with a scream.  
  
The slide didn’t sweep to a smooth end. It broke with a sudden drop. Lance hurtled to the ground, twisting around to stop Hunk breaking his fall. His shoulder slammed into cobbles sending sharp pain up his arm. Bruised and battered, Lance sighed on the floor. At least it was over. Then another shriek was gaining on him. With a start, he glanced up just in time to see a solid smudge of green before Pidge was landing on his stomach like an anvil.

‘Jesus Pidge!’ Lance shrieked, folding upwards with the sudden impact, ‘couldn’t you have waited like five seconds!?’

Pidge sent him a toothy grin, ‘that was amazing!’

And then she was laughing and the baby clinging to his neck joined in with twinkling giggles that rumbled through his chest. Despite the throbbing pain covering his entire body in various intensities, Lance couldn’t help getting infected by it. Squeezing Hunk close, he leaned forward and rested his forehead on Pidge’s shoulder, soaking up the sounds. He’d missed this. Family time.

‘Are you guys okay?’

Allura’s voice echoed through the tunnel above them.

‘Yeah,’ Lance shouted back. Then thought better of it, ‘give us two seconds!’

‘Too late!’

Pidge scrambled off his lap just in time to save herself, but it was too late for Lance. With shrieking laughter, Keith tumbled down, closely followed by Allura’s whose arms he’d escaped from. Lance was unceremoniously flattened as the two landed with a huff.

‘Why were you lying here!?’ Allura yelped, scrambling to her feet and ditching the toddler.

‘Because I fancied a new life as a crash mat.’ Lance replied flatly before flopping back with a sigh. Keith crawled up his body, hands digging harshly into his already bruising ribs.

Lance raised an eye brow at him, ‘what are you up to, munchkin?’

Keith giggled again before slapping a sticky palm on Lance’s brow. Then he attempted to pull the raised eyebrow down, palm bumping into Lance’s eye socket. Lance let out a pained noise, moaning about the kid having no boundaries.

Hunk watched the event unfold, and tentatively reached out to help. Then his own eyebrows were raising desperately, trying to mimic the expression.

Lance laughed loudly as Hunk’s eyes crossed and decided to give him a hand. He reached around to physically push his tiny eyebrow upwards for him and immediately let out a squeak. Hunk’s skin was so soft and squishy! It moved with Lance’s finger like play-dough. Self-control gone Lance began swirling the eyebrow around, watching the bewildered eyes of his friend below them.

‘Hey!’

Lance jolted as a small hand slapped his cheek. Keith was staring up at him with his characteristic pout.

‘Ohoho, is somebody jealous?’

The pout deepened, and Lance was hit with the familiarity. He may be small but he was undeniably Keith. Lance moved his hand over to the other child, sticking his thumb over Keith’s brow and squishing it over his eye earning a delighted laugh. He’d almost forgotten the mission, content with playing with the kids.

Lance was in his element. Babysitting was his favourite pass time and he’d forgotten the joy that the simple things in life brought children. It was grounding. Unfortunately, the actual ground wasn’t aware of this.

Another earthquake ripped through the temple, a harsh reminder of the unstable planet they were dealing with. Keith rolled off his chest, and Hunk wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck like a constrictor.

Right. Unstable worm hole at the centre of the planet. No more distractions.

Lance rubbed circles onto Hunk’s back and whispered soothing sounds until the rumbles stopped. He lifted Keith to his feet as he slowly stood up himself. Then he took a moment to scan the room they’d fallen into.

The place smelt faintly of burnt rubber and the ever-present hum of the temple was loudest here. The cobbles stretching from his feet glowed with bright green light that flowed between them like concete. The walls glowed too, but instead with strange carvings and hashes all in blues and yellows. They seemed to depict the story of the planet, the stick figures shrinking as circles appeared to radiate from spheres.

Placing Hunk on the floor Lance turned to see the rest of the room, Pidge and Allura already doing the same.

There was an arc cut into the floor with spikes leading to a large central table. Two pillars lifted it up, made up of frayed wires and broken copper pipes. In place of where a third should go was a pile of rubble, green light radiating from it like a heartbeat.

The floor was covered in slices of circuit boards and with every slight vibration through the ground, more fell from the ceiling and the whole room gave an exhausted groan.

‘This is it,’ Lance breathed. He had no idea what to do.

He crept closer to the table, carefully stepping around shards of equipment that he could only assume were irreplaceable.

At the centre was a pyramid, covered in deep holes reminiscent of plug sockets, catering for the many plug shapes different alien species would use. The table itself was covered in wires that followed patterns inset into the wood. He reached out to trace one and flinched at the cold touch. It felt more like marble than oak. Following the snaking design, he found more than one frayed wire, and some were cut clean through by slates fallen from the roof. Some sparked with hints of life, crackles of green surrounding them every few seconds, whilst others seemed like duds that had never seen electricity in their life time. The patterns all crossed over and moulded into one big mess like strings in a box. Only three wire paths started at the pyramid, but there were hundreds wrapping around the edges of the table and disappearing below.

Lance made to step back, but his foot brushed something hard that made a squeaking noise. He looked down to find Keith crawling around under the table, butt in the air like a cat ready to pounce. Lance followed his beady stare to find another beetle chilling on the most dangerous table leg he’d ever set eyes on. It was all sharp points, sparking wires and torn metal.

‘Keith!’ He shrieked and the boy jumped, hitting his head on the table. It let out a bright flash, sparks flying out like a firework. The earth below them gave another harsh tilt like the deck of a pirate ship.

Lance grabbed the table to steady himself as Keith barrelled into his legs and clung like a koala. Somewhere behind them Hunk was whimpering, teetering on the edge of a full-scale tantrum. With gritted teeth, Lance tore his gaze around and found the last two accounted for.  Allura had her feet spread like a surfer, concentrating hard on keeping balanced whilst Pidge clung to her arm in a white-knuckle grip.

The shaking stopped, leaving the room a little fuller of rubble but no less a room. Lance sighed, at least his team were in one piece. Keith was still hiding in his leg though and Hunk’s face was shining with water. Lance stroked a hand through Keith’s hair, coaxing him out of his shell. When he looked up with red-rimmed eyes, Lance crouched down to speak to him.

‘Keith. I’ve got an important job for you.’

The boy nodded, scrubbing his eyes and standing taller.

‘I need somebody to look after my buddy Hunk over there.’

Keith followed his gaze to Hunk who was now staring at the two of them with his head cocked to the side, still sniffling.

‘You think you could do that?’

Keith blinked up at him before nodding sharply, ‘yes sir!’

Then he ran across the room to the boy’s side. Offering out his hand, Keith waited patiently as Hunk blinked curiously before taking it in his own. Satisfied, Keith settled on the floor next to him and began talking nonsense with an air of importance. Lance smiled. One problem solved.

The girls were now steady, so he recruited them for help.

‘Pidge! You like puzzles, right?’

The girl beamed, ‘yeah! Me and my brother do them all the time after school.’

‘Perfect! I want you to find all the paths that lead from the pyramid to the edge of the table.’

Pidge didn’t hold back, ponytail bouncing off her back as she landed beside him, already scanning for solutions.

Then he turned to Allura, ‘and you and I will try to decipher these cave drawings!’

Lance marched to the wall, planting himself firmly in front of them. Allura wandered along behind like a shadow.

‘Why’d you want my help?’ She whined but there was something else there too. A vulnerability.

Lance didn’t like it. He kept his tone light-hearted as he spoke, ‘why wouldn’t I want your help?’  

He could feel her bristle, and immediately regretted the words. He braced himself for an earful, but then her shoulders dropped and she pulled her sleeves over her hands, ‘I’m just a kid. I don’t know anything about this stuff. I can’t help.’

She was looking away at the floor, hiding behind her hair and fidgeting with her sleeve.

Lance recognised this behaviour. Had been here a hundred times before and guilt swirled in his stomach for not realising it sooner. But at least that meant he knew what to do. That was one good about being the grown up – he had the power of experience.

‘I’m going to let you into a secret.’ He said, leaning forward with a smile.

Allura glanced up wearily at him but leaned in none the less. He took this as an opening and threw an arm around her shoulders before she could run away again.

‘I have no idea what I’m doing either.’

‘What!?’ She squeaked, turning rigid against his side.

‘Not a clue! I’m just pulling at threads here.’

Allura frowned, trying to step out of his embrace. Lance didn’t let that happen though, squeezing tighter, ‘but together we might be able to make head and tail of all this. You could throw out just about any old crap and it could still lead us somewhere, so don’t worry about it.’

Allura crossed her arms, speech still harsh, ‘doesn’t that just double our chances of failure?’

Lance took a deep breath. Allura was stubborn, probably more stubborn than him when he was her age. He’d need to draw on every mistake he’d made, every moment he’d been knocked down and every time he’d managed to pick himself up again to get this right. But he was determined.

‘I know you’re feeling insecure.’ Allura stiffened. Jackpot. ‘Unwanted, unhelpful, and  
unnecessary. And that there’s just so many things going on in your life that it’s impossible to relax.’

She nodded slowly.

‘But you’re allowed to feel scared.’ Her eyes widened, glistening like diamonds. Her mouth parted and he took that as prompt to carry on.

‘It’s okay to be frustrated. It’s not okay to torture yourself for it. You’re still the person you were, and the person you will be. You are capable.’ His hand on her shoulder began rubbing up and down to push warmth into her stiff muscles. ‘So please believe me when I say I need your help. Because I really do. I value your input just as much as anyone else’s. Maybe more, you usually get things right without even trying.’

Allura softened into his warmth, and they stood supporting each other for a long moment.

‘Thank you.’ Allura whispered, tugging at her sleeve.

‘No problem.’

And it really wasn’t. Lance practically glowed with the feeling of helping someone else the way he would’ve wanted to be. It made everything he went through worth it. A reward.

‘Now, you’re an Altean princess right?’

Allura narrowed her eyes as he released her.

‘You must have seen a thousand different Alien symbols.’

She nodded hesitantly, ‘yes?’

‘Then you’ve got the best shot at unscrambling this, good luck!’

With a final push, she stumbled forward as Lance spun on his heels.

‘Wait-‘

‘Don’t worry, this will be a piece of cake!’

Allura’s features contorted, ‘a piece of what?’

Finally! A semblance of the old Allura! Or future Allura? Time swaps were confusing. But with the flicker of life shown, Lance felt even more determined to fix this mess.

‘You’ve got this!’ He called, not bothering to explain earthen idioms.

 

Returning to the centre of the room, Lance struggled to remember anything they’d been told at the briefing before they’d left. The problem was, he’d assumed Pidge and Hunk would deal with this whilst he just kind of did their bidding and kept guard. There was a giggle near his feet.

He looked down to find Keith with his face pressed up against Hunk’s ear. His eyes were watching Lance like a cat when they weren’t crinkled in mirth.

‘What are you two whispering about?’ He asked with mock suspicion.

Keith buried himself in Hunk’s shoulder, briefly making eye contact with Lance before immediately squeezing them shut. Lance shook his head but couldn’t hide his smile as he looked away. They were exactly like his niece and nephew, keeping strange secrets from the rest of the world. His heart swelled. He was surprised that Keith was such a happy child given his current grumpy nature. It was sweet to watch him bond so easily with Hunk, completely relaxed in their presence. It gave him hope that one day older Keith could be just as at peace around his team. Lance glanced back and his heart dropped.

‘WHERE ARE THE KIDS!?’

The cobbles were empty, the walls were silent. All life in front of him was gone. His eyes flew across the room.

‘Pidge!’ He shouted before he’d even stopped spinning around. ‘Did you see where Hunk and Keith went?’ 

The girl blinked owlishly at him, finger pressed to the table like a place holder. He flipped towards Allura who was engrossed in the wall above. They knew nothing.

‘KEITH!’

No answer.

‘HUNK!’

Silence.

Lance began running, checking every nook and cranny spanning the edges of the room. How did they disappear so quickly? Did something happen? Was there a sinkhole!? A kidnapping!

‘KEITH!’ He yelled, more strangled than before. ‘HUNK!’

Where the hell were they? He began clawing at stones, dragging at rubble, increasingly more scared that they’d been buried alive. Then a twinkling giggle pulled at his ear. He froze. The laughter was smothered but undeniably Keith. That damn devils spawn.

‘Keith!’ He yelled following the muffled giggles, ‘Keith are you okay!?’

No answer. Then another round of gargled noise. Lance followed it, coming up to the corner of the room. Where it appeared to end was actually a small hidden passageway, barely big enough to squeeze his shoulders through. But as he did, Keith’s distinct whispers echoed louder, small hiccuping laughter dotted through.

‘Sh-ush, Hunk, La-Lance is pfft, right there.’

Lance gave an involuntary tut. Why did he even believe for a second that his team mates were angels?

He broke out of the passageway and stumbled into a small cubby hole. Sure enough, to his right were Keith and Hunk, standing hand in hand. Keith tried to hide behind Hunk who didn’t stop him or make a move to hide himself, seemingly happy enough just to be a part of life. Both were happy, healthy and all in one piece.

Lance dropped to his knees. Throwing his arms around them he sandwiched the boys into his cheeks. They were so warm, so soft, so vulnerable. Lance squeezed tighter.

‘Oh thank god,’ he murmured, words absorbed straight into their t-shirts. ‘I thought I was gonna lose you guys.’

He sat back up, quickly scraping at his eyes, ‘never do that to me again, okay? Ever. Not when you’re two, four, six or eighteen. Got it?’

Hunk’s head lolled to the side, and a hand reached out to Lance’s sticky cheeks. He leaned into the touch, sniffing loudly. Keith frowned, pulling at his shirt.

‘m’sorry. I-i didn’t wanna u-upset anyone.

Lance smiled. ‘It’s okay, buddy. You just scared me.’ Then he pulled him into his chest again, hand ruffling his hair whilst the fabric of his t-shirt soaked up tears.

The ground shook again, a small tremor rumbling the building. Lance was reminded once again that he had a mission other than babysitting.

‘Right.’

He stretched back up to full height, clicking his joints with satisfaction. ‘Where have you guys taken me?’

He was in a small square room, barely big enough to take two steps. At the far end was a lever, decorated with ornate metal engravings of vines and leaves. Lance inspected it, running a hand along the curved edge and following the wiring that dipped below it and into the floor. It was cool to the touch and in good condition.

He gave a shrug. ‘Maybe it’ll restart the system?’

He gripped the handle, pulling it forward in one fluid motion. As soon as it hit the other side, searing white light burst through the temple. Lance stumbled backwards, blinking at the spots in his vision. Then everything went black.

 

 

 

 

‘Lance!’

‘Oh thank god!’

Lance swayed, head watery as he barely registered his body getting squeezed like a lemon.

‘What’s happening?’ He groaned, cradling his forehead and trying to bring focus back into his eyes but it was like he was wearing Pidge’s warped glasses.

‘We did it!’ Hunk cried, giving another squeeze that made Lance’s ribs meet in the middle. He pushed weakly at his arms searching around him for help. Allura stood beside them, wearing a sympathetic smile and even Keith was smiling although he was probably just laughing at him.

As Lance tried to twist out of Hunk’s vice grip his arm brushed something fluffy. Peering under it, he found a mess of mousy brown hair buried in his side. The final cog in the team. Lance was still dazed but patted at Pidge’s back awkwardly, still trying to manoeuvre out of the bear hug he’d woken into.

Pidge untangled herself, giving Lance a chance to finally gaze beyond the group. He noticed he was in the same square room as before, only with four team mates rather than two and no kids. He gripped Hunk’s biceps tight, and finally forced him away.

‘Okay seriously, what happened?’

‘You were time-shifted into a little baby!’ Hunk exclaimed, before cooing, ‘you were so cute buddy!’

‘Oh?’ Lance strained his mind trying to remember what happened.

‘Don’t hurt yourself.’ Pidge commented and then gave a sly glance to Keith, ‘the memories will come back soon.’

Keith’s face exploded in red and he threw his arms across his chest. Lance snorted. Baby Keith was never going to be lived down as long as Lance existed. But before he could make a remark, Allura stepped forward.

‘When you pulled the lever you shut off the main power source, giving us about half a varga of backup to fix the machine. Unfortunately, there was another time surge as you did this, meaning you became a baby whilst the rest of us returned to our current ages.’ 

Lance frowned, ‘unfortunately? That sounds like the best outcome, I had no idea what I was doing!’

‘Actually,’ Pidge chimed, stretching her neck to join the conversation, ‘if you hadn’t got me to map out the vital wires, I would have wasted time trying to fix all of them.’

‘And you encouraged me to look at the cave symbols.’ Allura added, with a grin, ‘after studying them for a while I actually managed to make sense of them.’

‘Yeah Allura was a big help in fixing up the pipes for the table leg!’ Hunk said. When he sent her a thankful smile, a pink blush rose in the princess’s cheeks.

Lance nodded at all this, before turning to his final team mate.

‘So, what did you do?’

Pidge burst out in laughter as Keith shrunk down into his shoulders. Hunk gleefully threw an arm around his shoulders, ‘Keith was babysitter!’

‘He so thought he was gonna kill you!’ Pidge cried, falling over her tummy in a giggle fit. Even Allura hid some noise behind a hand cupping her mouth.

‘Babies are fragile!’ Keith yelped desperately.

Pidge shook her head, unable to fight her lips splitting wide, ‘you wouldn’t even let Hunk play with him!’

‘Throwing a baby isn’t a game.’ Keith all but growled. Lance laughed.

‘Aw buddy, you do care.’

Keith glared at him before tossing his head over her shoulder and walking out the passage. ‘Let’s just go.’

He didn’t check to see if the others were following but Lance assumed their laughter was indication enough.

As they walked, Pidge elbowed Lance’s side, ‘man, I’m so glad you were the one babysitting us.’

‘Nah,’ Lance brushed off quickly, ‘I’m sure Hunk would’ve done a good job too. Not Allura though.’

Even the thought seemed to have the girl shudder in front of them. Pidge shook her head.

‘No way, Hunk literally couldn’t stop pinching your cheeks and kissing your forehead when you first changed! We would have got no work done.’

‘Hey!’ Hunk yelped but then cut himself off, twisting his lips. ‘No wait, you’re right. Babies are just too cute!’

The girl’s eyes rolled and Lance felt warm. He’d actually done some good for his team.

‘What about you Pidge?’

‘I’m the baby of the group! That would just be wrong.’

Lance snorted and reached up to ruffle the birds nest sat on her head, ‘yeah, I have to restrain Hunk from poking your cheeks on a daily basis.’

‘What!’ Pidge squawked, whipping around to face the guilty party.

Hunk looked at the ceiling, ‘they’re just so round.’

Pidge’s eyes narrowed into a glare, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been more thankful for Lance before.’

Lance grinned. He knew it was a backhanded compliment, but it didn’t stop him filling with warmth. The ground below was less like hard stone and more like springy cliff-top grass as they headed out. His body was acting like he hadn’t just completed an exhausting mission. He was just so happy to have his place on their team. A role in their family. It dissolved all the tension in his muscles. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! ♥
> 
> [My tumblr](http://smolstrawberrychara.tumblr.com/) ✿


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